<\/p>\n Sadly, unless you’re a penguin or an Antarctic researcher, you were unlikely to catch the eclipse for yourself today. Still, the new moon offers several nights of pristinely dark moonless skies, so grab your telescope and join us on a sightseeing tour of the mid-February night sky.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Visible planets<\/p>\n Mercury<\/a> will shine low in the west in the hour following sunset on Feb. 17, appearing as a bright “evening star<\/a>” less than 20 degrees above the horizon. If you’re incredibly lucky \u2014 and have a clear view of the western horizon \u2014 then you may be able to spot the steady light of Venus<\/a> vying for attention in the glow of the setting sun below Mercury on Feb. 17, before it follows our parent star swiftly out of sight.<\/p>\n Saturn<\/a> will be visible less than 15 degrees to the upper left of Mercury. Its iconic rings are finally starting to reveal themselves after seeming to “disappear” in November<\/a> last year, when they turned edge-on in relation to Earth, making them appear as little more than a thin line.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today’s best Celestron NexStar 8SE deals<\/p>\n Dark nights around the new moon phase are the perfect time to hunt twinkling constellations<\/a> through the winter sky. Look to the left of Jupiter to find Castor<\/a> and Pollux<\/a> \u2014 the two stars<\/a> that represent the twins in the constellation Gemini<\/a>.<\/p>\n The gleaming star directly below Jupiter in the evening sky is Procyon, the brightest member of the constellation Canis Minor, the little dog. Sirius<\/a>, the brightest star in the night sky, sits at the heart of Canis Majoris \u2014 the big dog \u2014 and can be found shining roughly 20 degrees to its lower right (roughly the width of two stacked fists held at arm’s length), with the stars Wezen and blue Adhara<\/a> forming its rear leg.<\/p>\n \n Starmap for Feb. 17. (Image credit: Created by Anthony Wood in Canva.)<\/p>\n Both stellar hounds hunt the night sky alongside their master, the hunter depicted in the constellation Orion<\/a>, the colorful stars of which can be spotted to the upper right of Sirius in the hours following sunset on Feb. 17.<\/p>\n Look out for the red giant star Betelgeuse<\/a>, which marks the right shoulder of Orion and the blue supergiant Rigel, which marks the left foot. Between are the three familiar points of Orion’s Belt<\/a>, and hanging below that is the milky light of the Orion Nebula<\/a> \u2014 a colossal stellar nursery that orbits within the Milky Way<\/a> roughly 1,500 light-years<\/a> from Earth.<\/p>\n To the right of Orion will be the red light of Aldebaran, the star which marks the eye of the great bull in the constellation Taurus<\/a>. Notice a hazy patch of light to the upper right of Aldebaran? That’s the Pleiades<\/a>, a vast star cluster teeming with over a thousand blue-white stars, which makes for a magnificent target, whether you’re viewing with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \n A starmap for Feb. 17 showing how to find Polaris using the Big Dipper. (Image credit: Created by Anthony Wood in Canva)<\/p>\n Next, look to the northeast to find the seven stars of the “Big Dipper<\/a>” asterism<\/a> standing on its end close to the horizon. Locate the two uppermost stars \u2014 Merak and Dubhe \u2014 and draw an imaginary line from the former through the latter and out into space. The next bright star you find will be Polaris, the “North Star<\/a>“, around which the entire sky appears to revolve.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/oKhaGdcE2sojTknasetQv4.jpg\")
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